I changed all 30 of my M/T

I changed all 30 of my M/T cars over to McHenry couplers about a year ago.  Best decision I've made in a long time. The "slinky slack" action just drove me crazy.  McHenry couplers operate  flawlessly.  Replacing the knuckle spring can be a real PITA if you don't know this little trick.  Strip a single strand 2 in. long from a 16 ga. wire.  Thread this through the spring and bend the ends up so the spring can not slip off.  Using the point of a #11 blade, work the spring onto the knuckle.  Place your finger over the spring and gently pull the wire out.  No more lost springs.

Thinking out loud...

Dear Michael, Henk,

2 questions if I may:

1 - Did you try deploying the MT supplied/reccomended "calibrated drag" axle point springs?
1a - if you are running cabooses, did you try adding drag devices to the caboose?

2 - Did you try inserting a length of styrene within the centring spring, a la Trevor Marshall's S-scale coupler mod?

Just thinking out loud...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Accumate in N scale!

  I use the N scale accumates on my TT scale cars as they are about the right size for TT scale.    I like the MTL couplers on my N stuff since I model the cushion draft gear era and the slack action is fun to watch run in and out. It reminds me of my childhood rides in SP cabooses and being tossed around in the caboose by the slack action :> ) ...DaveB

No more MTs here either

Actually

The Prof is likely the poster I learn the most from here because he looks at things in different ways and challenges me to think "outside the box."  It is clear his intentions are "Aim to Improve" which is what I think most of us want.  It's never personal or attacking, it is simply just asking the questions to make us all think.  I, for one, hope the Prof continues to do so.

Agreed ...

... Professor Klyzir is one of those who will question solutions and offer alternatives ... and frequently those questions can clear up a misunderstanding and those alternative solutions can prevent a tremendous amount of unnecessary rework.  His advice is offered freely and I've never seen him take offense if it is ignored.  While some may consider him boorish;  I consider him a gentleman whose sole interest is helping me to achieve my goals.

Not his intent

Just ignor it ...

... if you don't like it.  I for one am grateful that he takes the time to share so much.

Slinky Effect

Joe - The slinky effect in Micro Trains couplers is a touchy subject amongst N scalers.  I'm with Henk on this subject and detest it.  The way the coupler is designed, there is a spring between the knuckle and the centering post that expands and compresses with the movement of the car.  I agree that it simulates slack action well when starting and stopping the train, but the cars tend to bounce forward and backwards while the train is moving and it is greatly exaggerated.  I have seen cases where cars near the end of the train will actually stop on the rails and then get pulled back into the train, this to me does not look realistic.

Check out this video by a gentleman that has done a lot of work on mounting mounting Z scale couplers on his cars.  This video shows a train full of Micro Trains couplers with springs and you can see the bouncing towards the end of the train.  All the while, the locomotive is moving at a constant speed and not jerking.  The cars just seem to find the right frequency for the springs.

Doug

Ah, now I get it...

Thanks for the video Doug, that demonstrates the problem well, and I can see why N scalers would want to take steps to address it.  Prof sent me a PM with some example videos as well, and mentioned that "Trevor Marshall actually gave up the centering action on his S scale couplers, and replaced the spring with a piece of styrene to eliminate the problem."

I see some of this in HO as well just due to actual slack action, but at Mike Confalone's advice, plan to move toward adding more weight to my cars to address the issue.

The Prof is likely the poster I learn the most from here?

Can some one point me toward the Prof's post? I don't see anything by him here?? ......DaveB

It would appear

that both the Prof's post and two following posts about his post have been either removed or marked as spam.  Kind of makes the rest of the conversation look like a dangling participle.

"both the Prof's post and two

"both the Prof's post and two following posts about his post have been either removed or marked as spam.  Kind of makes the rest of the conversation look like a dangling participle"

   Ok, Now I get it.  They need to modify that spam button so folks can't screw up the flow like this. It could be made to flag a post as spam but leave it there for those of us who value discussion over someone else's personal opinions about value. .DaveB 

Yes ...

... the cure is worse than the disease sometimes ...

Hopefully they will be restored ....

All cleaned up I think

Thanks for all the hard work

"Sorry it took me so long to get to this. I am on an Internet restricted vacation."

    Sometimes we forget how much goes on behind the scenes. After reading the missing posts I don't see what all the fuss was about but apparently someone didn't like it and spam tagged it? .DaveB

Nope, just some innocent experimentation

Nope, just some innocent experimentation this time. The one who accidentally did the spamming contacted us to let us know they were curious what that link did and so they clicked the links a few times. They then emailed us to let us know they "goofed" and asked that we restore the missing posts.

Most of the time, there's no big negative agenda involved - it's usually just a boo-boo.

All very innocent - and yes, we get that the spam function could use a confirm on it, something like:

You're about to remove a post from this website as spam, are you sure you want to do that?

Accumates

I find that the Accumates uncouple more reliably when over my electromagnet between the rails. I have no idea why this is but that's just the way it seems to pan out.

I too replace my MT's whenever I can with Accumates or McHenrys. There is no doubt that the MT's are a quality product and have a wide array of applications but the fact of the matter is I just dont like to install them at all. It's amazing to me just how far I can launch those pesky little springs. Who knew that those springs had such flight characteristics.?

Slinky effect

I know what you mean. I used to see that effect often in my N scale cars until I added plenty of weight (well, round about the NMRA standard) and it is now much less pronounced. Those cars in the video don't look as though they have much weight in them, or maybe the wheels are not running freely.

Cheers

Tony in Victoria, Australia

Over-engineered?

Thanks all for the

Thanks all for the contribution!

I was on a work enforced internet break due to being on customer site etc. 

It sounds like there are more folks who find the MT couplers not the preferred choice. Adding spring to a caboose would be pointless as it would be just that one or two last cars that do not suffer the bounce. The bounce is already there when pushing two cars into an industry. 

If there is anything that screams TOY TRAINS it is this ridiculous effect. So thanks to the prof for his suggestion but it's not a solution, not even a reasonable workaround, temporary or other.

In any case, no one offering up a shoebox load of Accumates?! 

Weighting the cars

Further up Joe makes the point that Mike Confalone adds weight to the cars. This will indeed eliminate some of the jerky motion, particularly in the first cars on a long train. But go beyond 5 cars and it's back and once the heavier cars join in the bouncing, it can actually pull the train loose from the engines due to the weight involved.

Accumates

Henk,

I do not have any Accumates, gave them all away already. 

Not sure if you are aware, but the Accumate couplers will fit inside the MTL box.  They are a lot easier to put together than the MTL couplers and actually have the same shank length, so they won't stick out as much as on Atlas cars.  The MTL trucks have a very simple slide and snap box lid, so the replacement is pretty easy, especially if you don't care what happens to the MTL coupler and spring.

Hi Doug, Yes, I am aware of

Hi Doug,

Yes, I am aware of that and it therefore makes it a perfect swap.

The McHenry fit in the MTL box too but loose some of the rotation which can cause some stiffness during coupling and uncoupling. Doable but not ideal so what I typically do is taking all Accumates of Atlas trucks and fit these in MTL trucks to then place McHenry's in the Atlas trucks with the snap in closure. 

All the talk about Accumates exploding in long trains is due to the Atlas truck coupler box. There is no issue when using them in MTL boxes as they hold the coupler more secure.

In short, not the fault of the Accumates but poor truck design by Atlas.

Still, far better then a slinky...

Cheers, 

Henk